Tag Archives: Chunk

Humpbacks

Posted on by

Overcast this morning with some rain, clearing up in the afternoon. Strong winds from 0800h onwards. Barometric pressure on the rise since Wednesday morning. Fifteen to 25 knot winds are predicted for tomorrow.

19 whale watching boats

There were two humpbacks on the southern border of the reserve this afternoon heading west. Several whale watchers surrounded them. Eagle Winged Tours was particularly persistent in chasing them. We now have 5 elephant seals on the reserve. Chunk, the big male, and the other four about half of his size or smaller. Chunk is looking very slim.

Two bombs sounded this morning off of Bentinck Island around 1015h.

Went into campus today from 1330h to 1530h to pick up a visitor for the night. Took a load of garbage/junk with me off the island.

Elephant seal shots

Posted on by

Chunk and Cheeky sparring near the jetty

Chunk and Cheeky sparring near the jetty

Cheeky hurrying up the boat ramp away from Chunk

Cheeky hurrying up the boat ramp away from Chunk

untitled-24

Chunk and Cheeky sparring in the water near the jetty

Chunk snoozing next to a gull's nest

Chunk snoozing next to a gull’s nest

Cheeky showing his flexibility

Cheeky showing his flexibility

Winds between 10-20 knots all day. Barometric pressure has been decreasing since Sunday. Forecast calls for same winds as today. 2 whale watching boats, 1 sailboat, 1 float plane flew over around 1400h.
Business as usual in the reserve today. Gulls are becoming evermore aggressive as eggs continue to hatch and chicks begin to wander away from the nests. The oystercatcher eggs next to the jetty finally hatched today! Like the gulls, the red-beaked parents are also very aggressive. Ran the fire pump today to fill the cistern.

July 5

Posted on by

Northwest winds peaked at 15 knots around noon. Overcast skies with some rain near noon.

There were a dozen recreational fishing boats on the east edge of the reserve this morning but a total of five actually passed through today. 6 whale watching boats were in the reserve.

The two male elephant seals have barely moved at all today. While taking the seawater sample this evening, a young harbour seal pup was murmuring lightly while finding its way through the kelp bed off the end of the jetty. The oystercatcher eggs near the jetty have yet to hatch.

A group of 4 kayakers from Port Angeles stopped at the island today for a quick rest before continuing on their way to Victoria.

Installed the VHF antenna today in the guest residence.

DSC_0243

 

 

Pup injured by Chunk

Posted on by

On the night of Saturday March 1st the pup started making more noise than usual. He had been on the path by the flag but when I went outside to check he was close to the main house and Chunk, who hadn’t been on the island in several days, was a few feet behind him. The pup was frightened and bleeding with several puncture wounds and scrapes from chunk biting him. Chunk’s mouth and teeth were covered in blood.

It is hard to make sense of this behaviour. After Chunk left the island we installed electric fence around the jetty to keep him out. The pup made his way onto the cistern, leaving a trail of blood, and has remained there all week.

While most of the wounds dont seem too bad there are two nasty gashes around the pups neck with deep cuts from Chunks teeth. Over the past few days these cuts have continued to release liquid, remain open and seem clearly infected. As the pup is not going into the ocean yet he doesnt have the benefit of salt water to flush his wounds. While they are resilient creatures it is still concerning; we are keeping a close eye on him.

These photos taken four days after the attack.

On Thursday Chunk tried to come back on the island via the boat ramp and got as far as the electric fence.

electric fence-8128

West winds, Blasting

Posted on by

The weather this week has shifted to predominantly W and SW with a few nights of winds over 40 NMPH. There have been some big swells rolling in several days this week.  This morning there is a 30 NMPH NE wind blowing 4 foot waves into the jetty but it is forecast to swing back to west this evening. The west wind has brought much warmer temperatures than the previous week.

There has been ongoing military blasting on Bentinck Island this week with some particularly heavy blasts occurring Monday. The images above were captured from video taken on Monday.
sub-7714
There has also been regular navy activity in the Straight including a submarine that passed by on the 14th

2 juvenile-7706

eagles-7682
There have been lots of Bald Eagles in the reserve lately, they have been feeding regularly on the dead sealion in the East bay.

The pup has been much more adventurous lately. He has been moving around the island and has shown an interest in muddy puddles which he seems to have some trouble getting himself out of as he is slippery, still quite chubby and building his strength. Chunk went off island yesterday evening and is back today. He mostly ignores the pup but has occasionally pursued the pup, putting his head and mouth on the pup but without causing harm. The pup squawks and moves away and that seeems to be the end of it.

Went off island on Wednesday afternoon for supplies. On Friday I picked up four guests from Pearson College and brought them to the island for the weekend.

-finished replacing bad drain pipes in main house basement, clean up
-picked up backup Honda water pump and other supplies from College
-cleaning and fixing up assist house, added shelf for VHF regulated power supply box
-have been in touch with faculty regarding planning for a student group to RR for Project Week
-communications with inverter mechanic and about wood stove
-cut, chopped, stacked fire wood

Orcas, Weaner

Posted on by

Weather has continued to be cold, dipping below zero degrees. Wind has persisted all week NE-E generally over 20 NMPH. Clouds have settled in over the past couple days so it is feeling a bit warmer, forecast for flurries today/this evening.

We were able to get off the island Friday morning for a quick run for provisions. By the time we came back out around noon there were already 3 foot Easterly swells picking up.

Yesterday a pod of around 10 orcas passed by on the West side of Race Rocks heading NE towards Victoria. A group of Pearson divers got to see them from Second Nature on their way for a dive at Swordfish Island.

Bertha left Friday night or early morning Saturday. The young male from middle rock was in the jetty Saturday morning, first time i have seen him on the main island. Chunk has seemed a bit restless. He made his way around the south side of the Science house yesterday and over to main house. He saw the young male in the jetty and chased him into the rocks on the W side of jetty. Chunk went into the water and waited around the jetty, a bit of a standoff. Eventually young fellow made it into the water and I saw Chunk coming back up the ramp around dusk. He seems very uninterested in the pup which is quite different from two years ago when Misery chased and bit Squall all the time. The pup hasn’t moved much and is sleeping a lot.

Feb 8: 2 ecotour vessels in reserve. One vessel caused a disturbance of sea lions on East rocks.
Feb 9: float plane flew over. Sports fishing boat entered reserve in afternoon and was fishing in reserve. I tried contacting them on the VHF radio but they did not respond, I waved at them but they kept on fishing. They didn’t stay long and left for Pedder Bay so I called the marina and reported the incident. The staff person on duty at the marina spoke with the 3 individuals who were apparently not aware of the fishing ban. We have photos and their ID info on record and will report them to DFO if they repeat their offence. Thanks once again to Pedder Bay Marina and their staff for their cooperation and support!

-picked up parts for plumbing drain in main house, bar oil for chainsaw
-cut, chopped, stacked wood
-worked on wiring in station boat, attaching new running light
-shore-master for Pearson divers Sat afternoon
-worked on drain plumbing in main house

Elephant seal Pup now a Weaner.

Posted on by

“Weaner” — That’s the name all elephant pups receive after their mother has nursed them for up to 28 days and then leaves them suddenly in the night and returns after a month on land  to the sea.

PUP2014-02-08 at 10.29.29 AM

When I first looked on the camera, I could see Chunk on the north side of the steel hose-reel box, but no pup!

On Sunday morning, Feb 8, I received an e-mail from Pam in England pointing out that Bertha was gone.  When I first looked on the camera, I could see Chunk on the north side of the steel hose-reel box, but no pup.

PUP2014-02-08 at 10.43.57 AM

The pup shows up as the shadow of the lighthouse moves back.

 

 

A few minutes later the shadow of the Lighthouse had moved and  25 days after being born, our pup was certainly all alone on the lawn. Bertha was nowhere to be seen ..

PUP2014-02-09 at 9.35.11 AM

Morning of Day 2 for the weener.

 

 

 

 

 

DAY 2 not much has changed.. The pup will get a lot of sleeping time as it matures, and lives off the fat it has accumulated.  The aerial in the foreground is that used by Environment Canada to transmit signals from its temperature, barometric and wind data from the top of the  tower.

 

PUP2014-02-09 at 9.36.51DAY2 AM

This starts what will be almost a month of fasting before the fat stores are used up and the pup will go to the ocean. This  evening  and tomorrow it may experience  snow and rain before the weather  warms up.

 

 

Now that the pup has survived this long we are about to give it a name. We have decided to use a name from the First Nations Klallum language. — stay tuned..

NE wind, temperature below zero

Posted on by

There has been a fairly steady 20-35 NMPH NE wind blowing since Sunday which has meant pretty constant white caps and waves breaking along the jetty, the sky has been mostly clear. This has made any transport to/from island difficult. On Monday Erik brought out an electrician and apprentice to remove the failed inverter. He wasn’t able to stay tied up very long on the jetty. We got the inverter off and it is now in Vancouver for servicing.

On Tuesday one eco tour vessel passed through the reserve. There was also a government barge and tug boat that seemed to have some trouble while going through Race passage. With a strong tail wind and current the barge seemed to pick up speed and get ahead of the main tug. Between here and Church Rock, I watched them maneuvering in what appeared to be efforts to regain control. Eventually they got it under tow again and reversed direction, with main tug pushing the barge from behind going backwards, and they tucked in behind Christopher point for protection. Several hours later they pulled out and returned in the direction from where they came, apparently having abandoned their original destination. Navy exercises most days this week with large vessels and several zodiacs trailing.

Bertha and Chunk continue mating, pup continues putting on fat. Bertha seems ready to leave any day now, she is visibly thinner, paler in colour and seems more passive and lethargic. The female eseal that had been in S bay has left, I assume to get out of the cold wind which has been below zero plus wind chill while sea temp is currently around 7 degrees C. The younger male e-seal is visible out on Middle Rocks today and has been there the past few days.

A coast guard helicopter arrived today for maintenance on the light and fog horn. They landed next to tower as usual which was pretty close to elephant seals, Chunk took off around the other side of the house but returned soon after to mate. While clearly bothered by the sound, wind/debris and proximity of the helicopter the mother and pup didnt or couldnt really move away.

-Checking heating coils on exposed water lines
-cut, chopped, stacked fire wood
-cleaned panels
-running some heat in main house in the evenings to keep it warm
-worked on wiring/lights in whaler
-communications for wood stove/inverter/solar
-entered data and submitted DFO boat count and Seawater samples
-made parts list for plumbing in main house
-month end report fuel inventory

week in review

Posted on by

I have missed a few days of logs; I was off the island Jan 22-26th. The day after I returned a inverter quit and we lost power to the main house, the internet connection was also interrupted a few days… we are now mostly moved in to the other house and are running ok with only 2 inverters on the island. Planning on having the bad inverter removed on Monday and shipped to Vancouver for servicing. We can still get power there by flipping transfer switch load 1 to “generator” while the generator is running

The weather has been very nice the last two days, sunny and relatively light wind. This house has more south facing exposure and is a bit smaller, it really warms up on a sunny day. We had quite a bit of rain earlier in the week and several days of patchy fog last weekend and early this week. Wind only got up to around 30 knots one evening mid-week.

The pup has really put on weight and is quite the squawker, often right outside the bedroom window… in the middle of the night. Chunk and Bertha are mating. He is quite persistent and she seems quite resistant but she wont leave her pup alone yet. This morning there was blood around her bad eye and it was swollen.

There has been ongoing blasting at Rocky Point this week, every day up to the weekend. One time several blasts were in short succession, sometimes there were flares too. The photo below was taken after one very heavy blast, the sealions all had their heads up right after and seemed alarmed.

heads up sealions-7339
Traffic in reserve:
Sunday Jan 26: I returned in the afternoon on the station whaler.
Monday Jan 27: 1 private, 1 ecotour, helicopter overhead, several navy ships doing exercises nearby in the straight.
Saturday Feb 1: 1 diveboat, 3 ecotour.

Work:
-troubleshooting inverter
-troubleshooting internet
-moving supplies over to other house, switching fridges, etc
-communicating with inverter repair person in vancovuer
-communicating with electrician for inverter removal
-removed 25 ft of 2″ clogged drain pipe from main house, cleaned pipes with rain water
-got crate for 2′ long inverter
-started month end inventory/report
-cut, chopped, stacked fire wood
-cleaned panels as needed
-picked up pipe and hardware for replacing sink drain pipe
-topping up batteries
-picked up parts for repairs on station whaler

e-seals, blasting

Posted on by

Sky cleared up yesterday, mostly cloudy today. NE wind less than 15 NMPH becoming W this afternoon.

Counted 16 bald eagles in reserve today, they have started feeding on the deceased sea lion.

Chunk has started spending more time off the main island, he was away all day today and back this evening.  I was able to get a better view of Middle Rock yesterday. In the picture below you can see Chunk on the left and a good sized female on the right with a young male behind her.

middle rock 2 male-7306

Middle rock: Chunk, younger male and female ( i think the one that had a pup out there earlier this month)

The number of moulting female elephant seals on the main island has increased to a total of 4: 3 in south bay (including one with green tag) and 1 in South East beach (pink tag). They all look pretty rough, as usual.

3 moulting females in South bay

3 moulting females in South bay

DND blasting: 1 blast yesterday, 3 blasts today. Looked like some small military vessels doing exercises near the reserve midday today and yesterday.

1 eco tour vessel, 1 charter rental from Pedder Bay (I called the marina as they were in the reserve and it was chartered by Shaw to get footage of race rocks).

-following up on wood stove
-cut, chopped, stacked wood
-topped up fresh water
-did some training/refreshing with relief guardian
-checked on battery water levels